PORTLAND — Records show that the company that won’t have its contracts to provide rides for Maine Medicaid patients renewed because of poor performance is scheduled to receive millions of dollars in extra money from the state in its last weeks on the job. Connecticut-based Coordinated Transportation Solutions, whose contracts end this summer, already received […]
MaineCare
Posted inBusiness, sj-web
CTS to get extra MaineCare payments through June
PORTLAND — Records show that the company that won’t have its contracts to provide rides for Maine Medicaid patients renewed because of poor performance is scheduled to receive millions of dollars in extra money from the state in its last weeks on the job. Connecticut-based Coordinated Transportation Solutions, whose contracts end this summer, already received […]
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Posted inOp-Eds
Barbara Leonard, MPH, and Connie Adler, MD: An ‘unnatural experiment’ on the backs of poorest Mainers
The legislative session recently concluded, and at the end it was decided to leave 32,000 Maine people without access to health insurance coverage because lawmakers did not expand MaineCare, Maine’s Medicaid program. Whether people agree with the decision or not, it is important to understand the impact it will have in this state. A week […]
Posted inLetters
In rebuttal, G. Mathews: Job creation, not welfare expansion
This is in response to Laurie Kane-Lewis’ guest column, “Embrace opportunity to expand MaineCare” (April 30). Here we go again. Another month, another writer stating what a wonderful idea it is to add 70,000 able-bodied Mainers to the state’s welfare system. Medicaid (MaineCare) was intended as a safety net for the truly needy, not as […]
Posted inLetters
G. Bennett: Where is the Maine competition?
This is in reference to news about a transportation contract for MaineCare patients. I saw on the news (also, story, Sun Journal, April 25) that the new transportation contract was awarded to a company in Atlanta, Georgia. Hmmm, isn’t that around 1,200 miles from here? Wasn’t it bad enough having the last contract sent to […]
Posted inLetters
L. Ryan: Expansion makes sense for everyone
For months, elected officials in Augusta have worked tirelessly to reach a compromise that would add Maine to the list of states that accepts federal funds to expand health care coverage to tens-of-thousands of our low-income family members and neighbors. The tremendous effort devoted to reaching an accord has involved Democrat leaders, several Republicans, providers, […]
Posted inLocal & State, sj-web
LePage vetoes bipartisan supplemental budget bill, citing ‘gimmicks’
AUGUSTA — Gov. Paul LePage has vetoed a supplemental budget bill that was crafted by the Legislature and supported by majorities in both parties. The Republican governor rejected the bill because he said it includes “gimmicks” to balance the books. “I cannot support a budget that uses gimmicks to keep it balanced,” wrote LePage in […]
Posted inLocal & State
State announces new contracts for troubled MaineCare ride program
AUGUSTA — The state will not renew a contract with a company hired to broker rides for MaineCare patients, according to the Maine Department of Health and Human Services. Coordinated Transportation Solutions, a Connecticut-based company that employs about 45 call-center workers in Lewiston, will lose its $28 million contract when it expires June 30. CTS can […]
Posted inLetters
D. Harrison: The governor is right
Gov. Paul LePage knows that Maine does not have a significant number of people who are uninsured. The reason for the high use of emergency room doctors is that many on MaineCare have a difficult time getting a primary care physician. That is not a problem that will be remedied by adding more people to […]
Posted inLetters
J. Sytsma: Governor’s lack of foresight
It is truly shameful that Gov. Paul LePage vetoed legislation that could have extended health care insurance to thousands of Mainers. It is even more disappointing that Maine’s Republican lawmakers did not have the courage to override the veto. By failing to extend MaineCare benefits at federal expense to 70,000 of Maine’s poorer citizens, Maine’s […]